It really makes a lot of sense for Paul Simon to work with Eno - considering all of he work he did with Talking Heads (who were also heavily into World music/African rhythms). I'm anxious to hear this one.

I posted this in the "CD of the Moment" thread, but it works here as well:

Great CD. Worth the wait. He works really well with Eno. The great thing about it is that it sounds totally different than anything Eno has done before and totally different than anything Paul Simon has done before. It was cool to see the live debut of "How Can You Live in the Northeast" and "Outrageous" in New Orleans last Sunday. He's pared his band down a bit since the last time I saw him solo. (in '99) Some of the songs on this CD rock harder than anything he's ever recorded. I think the smaller band is an effort to get back to a more direct rock sound. (Although he still had pleanty of "world music" elements in his show last Sunday) Most interesting, however, is that Steve Gadd was the only percussionist in the band. Last time I saw him I think he had 3 percussionists. And Steve Gadd ROCKED. It was cool to see him still in the band.

Along with the 2 tracks you guys mentioned, I really like Sure Don't Feel Like Love. The guitar arrangement for That's Me is cool also.

But the album for me is nowhere near the greatness of Simon and Garfunkel. This is no Bridge Over Troubled Water. This is more like Paul Simon's Press To Play - eccentric tracks that take a while to grow. In terms of 'comebacks' from the last couple of years I still have to say Macca's Chaos is pick of the bunch by a mile!

I agree that Chaos is a better comeback. I just think this is a solid record. I'm not saying it's better than Bridge or anything, just that it's the best work I've heard from Paul Simon in quite a while. He's showing that there is life after "world music." Up until this point, you could easily divide his career into 3 stages - Simon and Garfunkel, The Singer-Songwriter years, and the World Music years. Even his musical had Latin and African rhythms and a lot of them were still around on You're The One. Granted, I liked the world music albums, but it was beginning to seem like that was going to be the last chapter. I think with this Eno collaboration he's shown that he still has more chapters left in him.